Don’t give up on us, L.A. urges NFL

With a year left on the city’s exclusive agreement with AEG to work toward bringing professional football back to Los Angeles, a city panel on Tuesday said it wanted to continue efforts beyond that if no team has decided to relocate to Southern California.

“Our first choice is Los Angeles, but if it’s anywhere in the region, we will support it,” said Councilman Tom LaBonge, who wrote the resolution and has been an active proponent of several missions to bring back pro football.

LaBonge wrote a personal letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and each of the owners, asking them to consider placing one or two teams in Los Angeles.

“A metropolitan area of our size can support two teams,” LaBonge wrote. “We can all agree that the NFL must return to this city.”

However, there has been no commitment by the NFL to a specific site, with new locations mentioned frequently. “We continue to closely monitor all stadium developments in the Los Angeles area,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said.

AEG has until Oct. 18, 2014, to try to bring a team into its proposed Farmers Field stadium at L.A. Live.

After that, the city can move ahead with its own plans to expand the Convention Center — for which AEG is to serve as operators under a contract being completed now — as well as support other moves to obtain a team.

Other football sites said to be under consideration are Dodger Stadium, Hollywood Park and one in the City of Industry with developer Ed Roski.

LaBonge said each of the sites has benefits as well as drawbacks, but his interest is in seeing football back in the L.A. area.

In the past, Los Angeles has been used as a bargaining chip by teams as they seek improvements in their stadiums or contracts with local jurisdictions.